


Animorphs 40.5: The Confession

by alwaystired19



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Leerans, No Sex, No Smut, Romantic Fluff, Telepathy, just cute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2020-12-13 20:20:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21003590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwaystired19/pseuds/alwaystired19
Summary: Visser Three is trying to harvest Leeran DNA/technology to be able to read minds from a distance. In order to stop him, the Animorphs must morph Leerans- but what happens when Marco's biggest secret is suddenly out in the open? This fic is intended to take place between books 40 and 41.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> We can't tell you who we are. Or where we live. It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. Really careful. So we don't trust anyone. Because if they find us... well, we just won't let them find us. The thing you should know is that everyone is in really big trouble. Yeah. Even you.

My name is Marco.

That’s it. No last name. No full names, no addresses, no mother’s maiden name. No identifying information, period.

You see, there’s no such thing as too careful when you’re dealing with brain-stealing aliens.

And although I can’t tell you my birthday, I can tell you that I just had a pretty big one.

“Your dad is actually going to let you take the test?” Rachel asked me.

We were sitting in Cassie’s barn, doing homework and enjoying the fact that we were in-between intergalactic catastrophes. None of us were going to say it, of course, because it was better not to jinx it- but the Yeerks had been pretty silent in the last couple weeks. It was a little suspicious, but I figured, hey, let’s enjoy it while it lasts, right?

“Yes, he is.” I said, a little defensive. “He’s actually kind of excited about the whole thing.”

“Just warn me ahead of time, so I can plan to stay off the streets for the next few decades.” Rachel said. She was sitting cross-legged on top of a bale of hay, her textbooks and notes balanced around her. Her chemistry notes were actually color-coded, which just goes to show you how productive she can be when she’s not trying to save the world.

Jake walked around the corner from one of the stalls he had been cleaning out with Cassie. “Even if he passes—”

“If?? Excuse me?”

“Even if he passes the test,” Jake said again, raising an eyebrow at me “that’s just a piece of plastic that says he can drive. It doesn’t change the fact he doesn’t have a car.”

“That’s what you think,” I said.

<Uh, guys?> Tobias interjected from the rafters above us. <I think Marco’s lack of wheels is something we’re going to have to worry about later. Erek is walking up the driveway. He’ll be here in about a minute and a half.>

Now Cassie came around the corner to where we were. Ax put down my history textbook, which he had been reading and muttering to himself about this whole time.

“That’s okay,” I said. “I didn’t want to finish this paper on Mesopotamia anyway.”

Erek wasn’t surprised that we were all ready and waiting for him. “Hello, everyone. How are you doing?”

“Well, no offense, but we were doing great until you showed up,” I joked. “Don’t tell me- Visser Three is trying to build some kind of mind-reading, Animorph-killing robot machine thing.”

Erek raised an eyebrow at me. Or, rather, he made his hologram raise an eyebrow. Erek himself is a metal, dog-looking android that projects a hologram to look like any other high-school kid. “Actually, you’re very close.”

I groaned. This was one of those times I really didn’t want to be right.

“This one has been in the works for a while. After the fiasco on Leera a couple years ago, very few Leerans remained in Yeerk custody. Those that did were either held captive or were voluntary hosts to begin with.” Erek explained. “The Yeerks have been using Leeran controllers to help weed out members of the Yeerk Peace Movement. However, now the Yeerks are facing a problem- Leeran life spans are very short compared to most- their average life expectancy is four years.”

“Really?” Cassie asked. “So that means that those Leerans the Yeerks took as adults are getting old and dying, which means soon they won’t have any Leeran controllers.”

“Wait, how is that a problem for us?” Rachel interjected. “I mean, now they’ll have one less species to turn into tools, right?”

Erek nodded. “Yes, which is why Visser Three is trying to use Leeran biology to make telepathy receivers.”

I raised my hand. “Um, sorry, but did Visser Three forget that he can just morph a Leeran whenever he wants?”

“Normally, that would be the case, but as it turns out, Visser Three had a reaction to the Leeran morph. I hear the whole thing was a little embarrassing for him.”

“He’s allergic to Leerans? Go figure,” I said. A while back, Rachel had an allergic reaction to a crocodile morph. It made her morph uncontrollably anytime she got emotional. Visser Three is constantly angry, so I can’t imagine how much involuntary morphing he experienced. No wonder we hadn’t heard from him in a while.

“What are these telepathy receivers you said?” Jake asked Erek. “How do they work?”

“Basically, the receivers interpret the electromagnetic waves Leerans use to read minds,” Erek said.

“Is that even possible?” Rachel asked.

<Andalites have a similar technology we use for languages,> Ax said. <Every _aristh_ is given a translator chip when they go through the training academy. It interprets any language and then makes it possible to communicate in that same language.>

“It makes sense. I mean, some animals we morph can smell emotions,” Cassie said. “And humans use sonar the same way bats and dolphins use echolocation. I guess if you can figure out what exactly it is that Leerans are picking up on to read thoughts, you could flip that around and figure out how to read it yourself.”

  
“Exactly.” Erek said. “Visser Three’s team have set up shop in a building that’s disguised as an attorney office. I’ll give you directions when you are ready.”

  
<That's okay, I know which one you're talking about,> Tobias said.

“You do? The one off Alamo?” Erek asked?

<Yeah, you mean the only office building on that side of town that doesn’t have a name, a sign, or anything that says what it is on the outside? I’ve had my eye on that one for a while. I was thinking it might be a pool entrance, but it’s only ever the same twenty or so people that go in there.>

“That’s why it pays to have friends in high places,” I said.

“Thanks for the info, Erek,” Jake said. “We’ll see what we can find out.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> silly birbs

<There he goes, second dumpster on the left!> Rachel shouted and took to the air.

Tobias sighed. <You guys are disgusting, you know that, right?>

Rachel, Tobias, Cassie and I were staking out the large, suspiciously non-descript building the Yeerks were working out of. The building that happened to be across the street from the best sushi restaurant in town.

<I just can’t get over how people can order that much food and then just let it go to waste.> Cassie hopped a little on the wire next to me.

<Technically, it isn’t going to waste,> I pointed out. Now there were several seagulls tearing apart the fresh garbage bags. I noticed one seagull that used its talons to carefully cut across the top of the bag, where the knot was, the knocked it over, making it much easier to access all the delicious, half-eaten spicy tuna rolls. One guess which bird was Rachel.

I was just about to fly over and join the party when Tobias swooped back around by us.

<Okay, well, while you three have been acting like idiots, I have not only figured out the passcode to the entrance, but also came up with an idea for how to actually get in the building.>

We’d figured out pretty quick that it was going to be difficult to get close to a telepathic amphibian controller, never mind touching one. While we were doing our stakeout, Jake, Ax, and Erik had gone to Radio Shack to find the parts they needed to build a makeshift device that Ax thought could block certain electromagnetic frequencies and hopefully make our minds un-readable. Even if Ax could make the device work, we’d still have to bypass any regular security the Yeerks would have set up.

<Tobias, I for one would love to hear your clever and exciting plan- over dinner, of course.> I flew over next to Rachel, giving into the seagull’s instinct to eat anything and everything.

<Okay, so we know the building has a Gleet biofilter at every entrance, but I’m thinking, what about the roof entrance?> Tobias said.

<No offense, but I feel like a bunch of teenagers suddenly descending from the ceiling isn’t the most subtle way to get inside,> Rachel said.

<No, he’s right,> I said. <Most of the time, the roof access door is just a set of stairs behind another door. Once we get in that stairwell, we can morph fly or roach or whatever, and then we’re in.>

<How many roofs have you accessed that you know that about the doors?> Rachel asked me.

<Ever heard of parkour?>

<Okay, but if the Leerans are on that floor, or even the one beneath it, they will know we’re there,> Cassie said. <Their telepathy waves go several yards out in all directions, not just forward and back.>

I started to contradict her, but Rachel beat me to it.

<No, the Leerans won’t be up there. They live in water, right? All that water would be too heavy to have up there on the top floor. They’ll keep the Leerans on the lowest floor, probably in the basement.> Rachel might look like a blonde, airhead model in her human body, but she’s definitely smarter than the average bear.

<Alrighty then, I guess we can wrap this up and head home,> Tobias said. <We’ll run it by Jake and Ax and hopefully we’ll be able to do this mission this weekend.>

<Oh, goody,> I said sarcastically. <I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to spend my Saturday at home, sleeping in, getting to catch up on the latest episode of _Goosebumps_.>

<Marco, _Goosebumps_ hasn’t had a new episode in 2 years.> I could hear the eye-roll in Rachel’s voice as she flew off.

<See, that’s how far behind I am!>


	3. Chapter 3

When I got home from the stakeout and our little meeting, it was almost 10pm. My dad had long ago stopped waiting up for me, but Nora was sitting on the couch grading papers. She looked up when she heard the door.

“Were you at Jake’s?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. I walked over and opened the fridge.

“I saved you some of the cheeseburger casserole we made for dinner in case you wanted any,” she said. I have to admit, having a stepmom does have its perks. Before she moved in, our meals were mostly courtesy of the ever-famous Chef Boyardee.

I hadn’t liked Nora at all when my dad first started dating her, but she and I were okay now. It was weird having a teacher live in your house, but we had a silent agreement that we didn’t talk to each other at school. My life was complicated enough without having to worry about everyone I know asking what it’s like to have Nora for a roommate.

Nora had followed me and was now leaning against the kitchen wall. “It’s kind of late for a school night,” she said cautiously. She would do that, say little things just on the edge of something like discipline, but never outright scold me. I pretended to be annoyed, but really, I kind of liked having someone worry about me getting enough sleep on a Thursday.

“I mean, it’s a school night for you too,” I joked.

Fair enough,” she laughed. Then her face got serious. “Marco? Can I ask you something?”

I froze.

“Uh, sure,” I said, trying to sound as casual as possible. Alarm bells were ringing in my head, but I kept my face blank as I opened the microwave.

“Why do you always come home from Jake’s wearing such, ah, athletic clothes? I didn’t think you were really into playing sports. What do you guys get up to?”

I slowly let myself exhale, then turned around, grinning.

“You ever heard of parkour?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've tried to be consistent with the books' writing style/voice but this chapter obviously strays away from that. Also, yes, I'm going to put a million little details about their lives outside of The War, because I love Domestic Animorph Life and I never got enough in cannon.

Oh, how I despised chemistry. I just flat out didn’t get it, and I didn’t see the point in trying anymore when I didn’t even know if I would even survive long enough to graduate. Jake would be mad if he knew, but Erek had begun taking my tests for me in order to consistently keep my grade at a C minus. 

A lot of times I would spend this class thinking of ideas for our next mission while pretending to take notes. I sat in the back, in the left corner, and Mr. Reisman rarely turned around to face the class during lectures, so napping was usually also an option.

Today, I found myself staring at Rachel.

This was the only class I shared with her. We tried to never meet as a group in public if we could help it, or at least make it seem natural. It didn’t make sense for me to hang out with Rachel unless Jake was there, as the obvious link between us. In this class, we didn’t talk to each other.

It was harder than it should be to stay away from her. When I walked into class and saw her, I would have to stop myself from smiling and making some smartass comment to her. She always played off my jokes without missing a beat, and I loved that banter. It was one of the only things that kept me sane.

While Mr. Reisman blathered on about moles, I watched Rachel taking notes with all her colored pens. She had them lined up in front of her in the order of the rainbow, and would unclick each pen and put it back in line before picking up the next one.

Rachel had always been very fashionable, but lately she had embraced some of the “grunge” look that people were getting into. To anyone else, it would probably just seem experimental, but I guessed it was because it was easier to hide her morphing outfit under jeans and flannel. Despite that, her makeup and hair were still perfect no matter what. She could have been an elephant ten minutes ago, and you never would have known.

<Hey guys, don’t freak out, it’s me,> Tobias said suddenly in my head.

“AHH!” I yelled. Rachel hadn’t even blinked.

Now everyone in the class was turned around and staring at me.

<Way to not freak out, Marco.> Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tobias out the window, sitting on top of bench.

“Marco?” Mr. Reisman looked pissed.

“Uh, sorry, just, that’s a really big number!” I pointed at the board where Mr. Reisman had written 6.022 x 10^23. “I’ve never seen a number that big!”

“Marco, that’s a mole. We’ve been working with moles for two weeks now. Are you feeling okay?”

I couldn’t help but glance at Rachel, and I could see she was trying to physically restrain herself from slamming her head against the desk.

“No, I’m good, it’s all good. Just real excited, you know, I love those exponents.”

Mr. Reisman turned back around, and so did everyone else.

<Okay now, what I was going to tell you before Marco discovered his love for chemistry, - Marco, stop _looking _at me - is that Ax and Erek’s dad just finished the electromagnetic frequency-blocking device. Wow, we really need to come up with a better name for that. Anyway, we’re going to try to go in this afternoon.>

Rachel was looking at the white board, but I saw her raise her left eyebrow. Tobias saw it too.

<Yeah, I know we said Saturday, but Erek said it would be safer to go tonight, and I agree- the majority of the controllers leave early on Friday afternoons.>

Rachel and I both slightly nodded, and Tobias took off.

Mr. Reisman wrapped up the lesson, and Rachel turned her torso all the way around in her seat to crack her back. She looked right at me and smiled. Someone else may have seen that and thought she was laughing about my outburst earlier, but I knew her well enough to know that was her “let’s do it” grin.

I really don’t like that grin.


End file.
